This morning in my front yard was fast food litter. Not much, just a ‘to-go’ bag, burito wrapper, and napkin.  Some person driving down the street finished the meal they had just purchased at the drive-up window, lowered the car window, and pushed out the remaining evidence.  It happens all the time.   What if I had seen the person drive by, and what if I had followed them home, and what if I then took the litter they threw into my yard and threw it into theirs?  I bet they would be mad at me.  Wonder Why?

It’s the end of August, and a meek chill front cooled things off last evening. It happens that the street vendor had some really fresh medium large shrimp in his van, so I got some.  In the pantry was a dented can of white beans.  The basil and parsley were so fine out on the deck.  I had made bread on Sunday, so what can I cook?  Hummmmmmmm, what about…

Shrimp White Bean & Herb Sauce

Item Number

____________________________________

Olive Oil 1 T

Unsalted Butter 1 T

White Onion 1, small, chopped fine

Garlic Toes 3, chopped fine

“Crystal” Hot Sauce 1 T

Red Pepper Flakes ½ tsp

White Wine ¼ Cup

Fresh Parsle4 ¼ Cup, chopped & packed

Fresh Basil ¼ Cup, chopped & packed

Shrimp Stock ¼ cup,

Cannellini Beans 1 Cup, canned, rinsed & drained

Medium shrimp 16, pealed, deveined

Cherry tomatoes 12, quartered

Parmesan cheese 1 T, fresh shaved

In a saucepan Sauté Onion in 1 T. Olive oil.

Add wine, simmer to reduce ½.

Add garlic, ½ Cup beans, Shrimp stock, parsley, & basil & simmer 2 minutes.

Transfer to blender after cooling & blend into a purée.

Wipe out saucepan and return purée, adding remaining beans, hot sauce, pepper flakes, salt & pepper to taste. Keep warm.

In a skillet, heat the butter & remaining 1 T olive oil to shimmering. Season the shrimp with salt & pepper & Sauté for 1 ½ to 2 minutes until just done.

Divide the bean pure into shallow bowls & arrange the shrimp over. Garnish with quartered cherry tomatoes and fresh parsley.

Serve with crusty bread.

A hurricane was coming.  Many had come over the years.  But this is 100 miles inland? “No problem!, came my imitation of the Hispanic movie character, Scarface.  

“We’ll have some rain, lots of it.  There will be some wind too, maybe even 50 MPH with this one, but that is perfect for hitting iron shots at the Club”, I told Holly.  So when the power went out at the office around 10:30 AM, I drove to the dark Country Club, got a 6 iron from my car boot, and took a walk into the wind now coming strong from the Northeast.  Oh, it was so exciting; a howling gale that took my crisp shots and whipped them along with the force filled with peppering rain.  After 500 yards down the way, there came a huge crash to the right.  An oak, some 6’ in diameter, had blown down.  The gust arrived and a popping sound behind me was realized to be a pine tree limb 8” thick snapping off some 30’ up the trunk.  The wind pushed the limb 30 yards in the air and what had now become a dart, impaled the earth.  In my belly I felt the thud some 70 yards away.  Then seeing several green pine cones screaming missile-like down the way, it was clear I had terribly underestimated this one- the bitch Katrina.

Tomorrow is the anniversary of her landfall.  Some days I still shudder with the aftermath.  Gusty, summer rain storms that make the tall, slender tree across the street from my house bend sharply bring back the fear that the one over my head will snap and hit my house.  Trauma – yes that is what it is.  Mental trauma remains 4 years after she devastated South Mississippi.

Utterly helplessness was the mental condition.  Never had such a feeling taken me over.  And, I was not alone in that.  Many around me felt the same. Ones who had thought they had absolute control.  No more!

That sense of assuredness disappeared on August 29, 2005.  My confidence will never be as great.  My sense of purpose in this life began to change with this particular taste of being so small filling in my mouth. We have so many comforts, so many pleasures, and so many alternatives for ways to spend our days.  

What did I learn?  I am still not sure what I learned, but I am changed. I feel it now. My work is different. My goals are altered.  My cares, well, ¶“Pack up all my care and woe, Here I go, Singing low”.

Jones County has a need for major improvements with transportation.  Several highways and city streets are so congested that cars and trucks pile up at every major intersection.  Most likely you are thinking about Laurel’s 16th Avenue (Ms Hwy 15 N)?  Maybe you get fouled on Hill Street in Ellisville?  Those are testimonies to planning that is far too late to fix.  We must consider other highways that will provide land for development; development that will build our tax base.

Today there was a Pubic Hearing to discuss widening of U S Highway 11 South from Industrial Boulevard at the Laurel Airport Industrial Park to Harrison Boulevard.  The portion of that thoroughfare South of I-59 must carry over 7,000 people (jobs) to work everyday.  How many 18 wheel trucks drive there every day too?  Guess what?  The plans are done, but there is no money.   

Mississippi Highway 590 extension, that surely will help relieve some of Ellisville’s Hill Street pressure, is on the way. It is funded, but when will they get busy?  Ellisville needs that NOW.   JCJC will grow even more once it has a gateway that is inviting and looks like its 21st Century campus.

If I lived in East Laurel or East of Laurel and had to use the old Underpass at Cross Street, I would just scream.  Redevelop Chantilly now! 

What do you think?

Send MDOT a comment about our needing that project. environmentalcomments@mdot.state.ms.us

Absent for more than fifty years this icon of 20th Century Jass and arranger of Music Scores for Hollywood Cinema came home to Laurel bringing masters to sit beside him and produce world class music that made the audience feel like adults in the company of world class talent.  To Mundell’s side was another master, Floyd Wells who played a rare 7 string Gibson.  He had the touch, the expertise to support the Star with base foundations and inspired lead licks that made the Star’s work more important.  My goodness, their work was wonderful.  Then came a standup bass man whose voice, unobtrusive yet pure, really hit home for the trio.  Mose Allison was there in spirit, regardless of the faux pax stating that Mose is a Coast man, when truthfully his foundation is all Delta.  Out of the Jones County land came Bob Sanford to add his Chetlike thumb drive.  Joy in one’s heart is contageous.

The concert was so fine.  Sadly, sitting through a warm up, left me itching.  I wished for Mundell’s entire 1 1/2 hour show that I had been sitting at a table with a stemmed rose filled vase in the Vuillard Rooms of the Helmsley Palace in NYC dressed, being so adult and listening to world class music art.  Yeah, the heart of the concert was fine.  Laurel’s downtown Reserve would have been a great place to hear them as well.

The Laurel Little Theater is a treasure.  Thanks to leaders like George Jackson, the venue makes the performers look good and Laurel a classy place, where less is more.  Promote some more of these class acts, please.

There is fine music in Laurel.  The Jagged Edj later that night was so much fun.  Those travelers do form a union each time they meet.  Neil Thames works so hard and enters Nirvana with Hosey’s first lick.

Even next Sunday afternoon, myfavorite brand of gospel music will be showcased that the Morning Star Baptist Church. Albert Ray, with a voice that inspires any music lover, will be singing with his friends that pure music for a full set.  I just gotta go hear them.

Jones County is a great place to live.  We are blessed with so many positive things and so many good people.  We have beauty and brains too.  Let’s work hard to use the right people to get the right things done in our County that will raise us up to levels of employment and income that exceed any other county in our state. 

To me, a County like ours that has two Billion Dollar employers, an institution with more college freshman enrolled than any other, cultural gems like the Lauren Rogers Museum and the Laurel Little Theater, fun recreational facilities like the Sportsplex, the Laurel County Club, the Desoto National Forest, Lake Bogue Homa, 21st century industrial parks, an Interstate, two US highways, four major state highways, national passenger and shipping rail service, is the hub of oil field activity in the 7th largest producing state is some fine place to call home.  What all that means is that we live in a place where the winters are mild, where decent paying jobs exist and where we can enjoy our free time raising our  family the way we want.

I say we can do better.  To make Jones County better, we want to find ways to help Ellisville get the resources that a growing town needs to grow properly and be the prettiest, cleanest, busiest, close nit town anywhere, we want to find ways to get downtown Laurel full of busy people who are all working, shopping, dining, and living in a fun, up-beat, safe environment, we want to free those people in our county who are trapped in poverty by being able to supply those services they need to get on their feet, we want to provide the finest educational system anywhere and offer our children, who are as smart as any children anywhere, a chance to learn skills that will give them opportunities to stay home and not leave for places where there are more and better offerings.  

The list goes on since good people always are seeking good things for their communities. How are all these things accomplished? 

Let’s think about this idea. How do we get the right people in the right places to work on the right problems in the right ways?  Everything about communities sooner or later gets around to politics.  I have mine, and you have yours. I am good with that.  I know that opinions create horse races and football games.

We just have to make sure that our opinions are based on fact and sound thinking, not emotions and outdated traditions. Now we have come to the point of this commentary. 

In Jones County and in each of its municipalities, we have elected good people that are there to lead us toward having a better place to live.  I know many of them personally, and there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that each and every one of them seeks to do the best job they can and do their part to make our home even better than it is.

Let’s ask those leaders to be very careful when they hire people to important positions and appoint people to committees, boards, and task forces, to be very careful that they choose the RIGHT people for the post.  They must hire and appoint only the RIGHT person for the job.  Appoint the ones who KNOW and UNDERSTAND the task set before them.  Those nedd to be ones with true experience. Then we will be on the RIGHT road.

Ø  Imagine having the right persons seeking funding for an important project. 

Ø  Imagine having the right persons at the Board table who have the right experience to understand the complexities and challenges our hired professionals face.

Ø  Imagine the right persons deciding on the right courses to take when seeking solutions to any problem. 

Imagine our leaders taking the time to ask some experts in a particular field of study, who is the “Right” person to hire or appoint to a post.  Let’s do it today.

Last night I broiled some fish.  It was some catfish I got at Tri Tran’s Fish Market. The fish was seasoned with ground cumin, salt, pepper, garlic powder.  

It needed a dressing which I made with H’s mayo, fresh lime, some chipotle in adobo, & salt.

Then it needed some Pico de Gallo Salsa.   The fresh salsa involves dicing all the large ingredients into uniform pea size pieces.  The spices & herbs are finely minced.

 Fresh tomatoes - diced                 2

Yellow onion      - diced                ½ large         

Cilantro              - chopped fine    1 cup          

Jalapeño pepper - diced                1

       (adjust mildness by varying the amount of seeds)   

Garlic                 - minced             1 large toe      

Olive Oil                                        1 tsp    

Salt and pepper -                          to taste

Lime juice          - fresh                 1/3 cup

Gently mix all the ingredients in a bowl & let sit for 1/2 hour.

Shread some leaf or Bib lettuce.

Shread a favorite mild, white cheese.

All these ingredients were then stuffed into warm corn tortillas to make a fine TACO. Some seasoned black beans were great on the side.

 I ate it all so fast that I forgot to take the picture……..

“Cervesa Por Favor”

Mundell Lowe is coming home.  Gone to California since his early days playing his world class jazz guitar, Bill Clark Promotions is headlining the Master in two concerts to be held at the Laurel Little Theatre on July 18, 2009.  Ranked among the world’s best jazz musicians, Mundell will be performing with Lloyd Wells, another jazz great who has performed on such shows as The Tonight Show. 

Check out Mundell on www.youtube.com, just search Mundell Lowe.  A really good tune is Stompin’ at the Savoy.

The Promotion home page to order tickets is www.mundellcomeshome.com

It was the last few  holes of a  really good round of golf.  Only four holes to play and for me, even par is super.  These last four are not difficult if you play conservatively, hit the ball in play off the tee, target the green’s center, and relax.  15 ended with a par. 16, with a good chip because the lie was good, I got it in the hole in par.  Now comes the 17th, a simple par 5, reachable in two and a wide fairway to hit.

Failure to concentrate on basics led to a very poor shot, a solid hit but far right of target leading down into trees where the ground was hard, and a penalty ditch at the end.  That’s right, the ball enter the ditch, requiring a drop with penalty.  A resulting poor lie and mishit recovery left me 185 yards out.  The hole ended with a double bogie.  The 18th hardly mattered since the round was lost.

This entire story has a moral. The moral is about “Comfort Zones”.  All human beings seek their comfort level, a place where there is no challenge, no pressure, just cool calm relaxation.  Mine seems to be just above par, never at or below par, just above.  If I play poorly, somehow the finish is usually always strong to get the score just above par.  Back in my “Comfort Zone”.

Pasta & Shrimp…….Bacon fond is the key to the hidden flavor of the shrimp.  Just two strips cooked without moving in a sauté pan leaves just enough fond to give the sauted shrimp a current of soft flavor.  The rich butter & minced fresh garlic add the muscle & if just barely cooked through the shrimp are so tender & oceanlike.  Remove the shrimp, deglaze the pan with 2 T of white wine, add 1 tsp of cream with one more cut of butter, salt, black pepper, fresh chopped parsley, & what could be better beside spaghetti al dente stirred with butter & green onions.   The plate set to gently cool to just above room temperature, a glass of wine, & companion; yeah that’s a nice summer’s evening.